In my Element

February 15, 2021

In my Element

In my element....snow & sugar cookies!

Hey everyone!!! I hope you all had a fun Valentine's day weekend and are staying warm! I LOVE you guys! It was a pretty normal week with lots of good stuff happening here in Federal Way!!

An easy highlight (or lowlight if you ask my companions) of the week was a crazy snow storm that hit the Seattle area this past weekend!! Starting on Friday through Sunday there was about 10 inches of snow everywhere here!! In my head this was heaven on earth but for the rest of Washington it was a disaster haha!! No one here is prepared for snow and knows how to drive in snow so we were put in a mini lockdown for Saturday and couldn't drive anywhere. Soooo frustrating :( But we stayed busy inside and had a good time! My companions (from Texas and Vegas) both hated the cold but I loved everything about it! I definitely had my moments of homesickness when I realized I couldn't truly enjoy this snow without my skis but it's alright!! I know Scott is shredding all the powder for me at home :/ Church was canceled on Sunday too but we chose to be rebellious Hermanas and ignore our driving restriction to deliver Valentine's day goodies to all our Relief Society members! They all got plates of sugar cookies that I had baked and valentine's day notes on their doors :) It's raining again so Washington has sadly returned to normal already haha!

Other than the snow storm, it was a solid week here! We taught lots of lessons and I got to spend some time back up in Duvall for an exchange. It felt good to be back in my old home where I spent most of my training! All of our friends are doing well and last night we planned Alejandro's baptism with him! He's way excited and so are we. His favorite Book of Mormon story is about the 2,000 Stripling Warriors in Alma 56 and he now calls all of us "guerreros de Dios" which means "soldiers of god" all the time haha!! Keep sending prayers to Alex that everything goes smoothly on Saturday night!

Ever since I've been in Federal Way we have started to visit a less active couple that were married a few months ago. Gael and Rubi are the same age as us and both come from member families but have somewhat fell by the wayside the last year or two. Well thankfully they accepted us over for a visit my first week here and ever since then we've been having weekly dinner dates and Come Follow Me studies on Thursday nights. They haven't missed a Sunday of church!! The branch welcomed them back with open arms and they just seem so much happier than before. It's crazy how just reaching out and creating friendships with others can help them take steps back toward the covenant path. We love Gael and Rubi and are so excited for them to prepare to get sealed in the temple soon. Member work is real!

For a quick spiritual thought I just wanted to bear my testimony on the Atonement. This may seem like a heavy topic but something I've come to know during my mission is that the Atonement is a positive blessing we have in our daily lives. It will help us through trials, the repentance process and everything we are struggling with in that moment. But it will also help us experience more joy, find more hope and enjoy complete trust in our Savior Jesus Christ! It will help us through the dark times but will also help illuminate the good times even more! I'm so grateful that my Savior died for me and lives again. I know through His saving grace I can pick myself up and try again and again every time I fall and slowly become a more Christlike daughter of God. The Atonement is at the center of all things in this gospel and I have a firm testimony that it is at the center of finding true happiness in this life!

Have an amazing week everyone!! I love you all so much and would love to hear from you!!

Sending love from snowy Seattle!!!

Difícil es bueno.

Xoxoxo Hermana Christensen